For many nonnative speakers or learners of English, it’s
difficult enough deciding whether to use a gerund or an infinitive for certain
sentence constructions, but the problem becomes even more baffling when neither
makes the sentence work properly or—at the very least—doesn’t make that
sentence sound right. In such cases, in fact, lopping off the “to” from the
full infinitive form to yield what’s called the bare infinitive becomes
necessary to put the sentence on the right footing.
Such a grammatical dilemma was recently presented to me by
an Iran-based English teacher, to analyze and resolve which I wrote a
three-part essay for my weekly English-usage column in The Manila Times. I am now posting all three parts here for the benefit of all who still get similarly stumped by
the gerund-infinitive conundrum. (February 4, 2014)
1 – The choice between the gerund and the infinitive
An English teacher in
Iran, Farhad H., e-mailed me recently about his perplexity over the following
sentences involving infinitives and gerunds:
“Please take a look at Sentences 1 and
2 below:
“(1) ‘Rather than drive to New York in the snow, we decided to stay home and watch
the game on television.’
“(2) ‘Rather than running away from a difficult situation, they see it as
challenging.’
“As you can see, in Sentence 1, after
‘rather than,’ the bare infinitive ‘drive’ is used, while in Sentence 2, an
‘-ing’ form of the verb is used. Why? I’m really confused. What do we need
after the ‘rather than’—a bare infinitive or an ‘-ing’ form? How do we decide
which one to use?”
My reply to Farhad:
Your question involves two grammatical
aspects: whether to use an infinitive or gerund, and whether to use a full
infinitive or bare infinitive.
For a better understanding of these
grammatical forms, recall that infinitives and gerunds are both verbals, or words
that combine the characteristics of a verb and a noun. As a rule, an infinitive
has the form “to + verb stem,” as in “to watch” functioning as a noun, while a
gerund is a form of the verb that ends in “-ing,” as in “watching” likewise
functioning as a noun. (A third kind of verbal, the participle, combines the
characteristics of a verb and an adjective—as in the participle “watched” in
the sentence “A watched pot never
boils.”)
Being functionally nouns, both
infinitives and gerunds can be used as subject, object, or complement, but
whether an infinitive or gerund will properly work as such is primarily
determined by the operative verb of the sentence.
Take Sentence 1 above: “Rather than
drive to New York in the snow, we decided to stay home and watch the game on
television.”
Let’s put that sentence in its normal,
straightforward form so we can analyze it better: “We decided to stay home and
watch the game on television rather than drive to New York in the snow.” Here,
it’s clear that the operative verb is “decided,” and that “to stay home and
watch the game on television” and “drive to New York in the snow” are both
infinitive phrases serving as its direct objects—meaning that they are acting
as nouns receiving the action of the verb “decided.”
The difference between these two
infinitive phrases, however, is that the first,
“to stay home and watch the game on television,” is a full infinitive
phrase, while the second, “drive to New York in the snow,” is a bare infinitive
phrase, having dropped the function word “to.” The sentence is none the worse
for it, though, showing that the infinitive “to drive” can take its bare
infinitive form in that sentence without messing up its grammar and syntax.
Now let’s see if that sentence will
still work correctly if it uses the full infinitive “to drive” instead: “We
decided to stay home and watch the game
on television rather than to drive
to New York in the snow.” The grammar and syntax of that sentence remain
airtight, but I must hasten to add that this doesn’t hold true in all cases.
Indeed, several other factors come into play on whether a full infinitive or
bare infinitive will work in a sentence.
Before taking up that aspect, however,
let’s find out first if we can replace the infinitive phrases in Sentence 1
with their corresponding gerund forms: “We decided staying home and watching the game on television rather than driving to New York in the snow.” This
time the sentence no longer reads and sounds right—clearly indicating that
“decide” as operative verb won’t accept gerund phrases as direct objects.
We will discuss the ground rules for
choosing between infinitives and gerunds in the second part of this essay below.
2 – Ground rules for choosing between gerunds and
infinitives
Let’s continue our
discussion on the choice between infinitives and gerunds and between full
infinitives and bare infinitives in constructing sentences.
In the first part of
this essay, we left off with the finding that the following sentence
that uses infinitive phrases as direct object of the operative verb “decided”
is grammatically airtight: “We decided to
stay home and watch the game on television rather than to drive to New York in the snow.” However, when the infinitive
phrases are replaced by their gerund phrase equivalents, the sentence no longer
reads and sounds right: “We decided staying
home and watching the game on television rather than driving to New York in the snow.”
The problem is that the verb “decide”
won’t accept the gerund phrases as direct objects in that sentence. In English,
it is the operative verb that determines whether an infinitive or gerund can
serve as subject, object, or complement, and it does so following these four
ground rules:
1.
Use the infinitive as subject when denoting potential, the gerund when denoting
actuality or fact. Potential: “To win will be great.” (“Winning
will be great” works just as well, for “win” is one of those verbs that can
take either the gerund or infinitive form to denote potential.) Actuality or
fact: “Winning made him ecstatic.”
(The infinitive doesn’t work: “To win
made him ecstatic.”)
2.
Use the infinitive as complement or object when denoting future ideas and
plans, the gerund when denoting acts done or ended.
Infinitive for future ideas and plans: “Her ambition is to teach.” (But not, “Her ambition is teaching.”) Gerund for acts done or ended: “She picked teaching.” (But not, “She picked to teach.”)
3.
Use the infinitive as complement for single or repeated action, the gerund for
ongoing action. Single action: “I came here to study.” (But not, “I came here studying.”). Repeated action: “She goes
there to rest.” (But not, “She goes
there resting.”). Ongoing action: “He
does selling on the side.” (But not,
“He does to sell on the side.”).
4.
Use the infinitive as object for a request, instruction, or causation; the
gerund for attitude and unplanned action. Request: “He asked
me to rehearse.” (But not, “He asked
me rehearsing.”). Instruction: “She
told me to wait.” (But not, “She told
me waiting.”). Causation: “They
forced him to abdicate.” (But not,
“They forced him abdicating.”).
Attitude: “He thinks sailing is
risky.” (But not, “He thinks to sail
is risky.”) Unplanned action: “He found dancing
to his liking.” (But not, “He found to
dance to his liking.”).
These ground rules provide us with a
clearer conceptual framework for using infinitives or gerunds, but we must
firmly keep in mind that the primary basis for the choice is the operative verb
of the sentence. We have to get used to the fact that some operative verbs can
take infinitives, others can take gerunds, and the rest can take both. Making
the correct choice won’t be easy, but ultimately, it’s the one that makes the
sentence read logically and sound right.
Now let’s go back to Sentence 2 as
presented by Farhad H.: “Rather than running
away from a difficult situation, they see it as challenging.” He asked:
Shouldn’t that sentence use the bare infinitive phrase “run away” instead?
That sentence obviously doesn’t read
logically or sound right with the gerund phrase “running away,” but neither
does it do so with the full infinitive phrase “to run away”: “Rather than to run away from a difficult situation,
they see it as challenging.” However, it makes sense and reads perfectly well
with the bare infinitive phrase “run away”: “Rather than run away from a difficult situation, they see it as challenging.”
Why is that?
In the third and final part of this essay
below, we’ll take up the rules for choosing between full infinitives and bare
infinitives.
3 – Grammatical situations that require the bare infinitive
In the second part of
this essay, we saw that the following sentence with the full infinitive phrase
“to run away” doesn’t sound right: “Rather than to run away from a difficult situation,
they see it as challenging.” However, it reads perfectly well when that full
infinitive phrase is changed to its bare infinitive form: “Rather than run away from a difficult situation,
they see it as challenging.”
So the question is: Are there
hard-and-fast rules for using the full infinitive or the bare infinitive? There
are actually none; all that can really be said is that in general, the primary
determining factor is the operative verb of the sentence. Indeed, we’ll only
find out which of them works—or works best—by first using the full infinitive
by default. When it doesn’t work, the bare infinitive form usually will—unless,
as we saw in our previous discussions, it’s only the infinitive’s gerund
equivalent that can do the job.
At this point, we can now categorically
answer the original question of Iran-based Forum member Farhad H. that launched
this discussion: It’s in the nature of English that when an infinitive or
infinitive phrase is preceded by the adverbs “rather,” “better,” and “had
better” or by the prepositions “except,” “but,” “save” (in the sense of
“except”), and “than,” it’s highly advisable to use the bare infinitive in the
sentence.
Let’s try out those specific instances
that require the bare infinitive: “We would rather
commute than drive at this hour.”
(Faulty with full infinitive: “We would rather
to commute than to drive at this
hour.”) “With the mess you’re in, you had
better hire a lawyer.” (Faulty
with full infinitive: “With the mess you’re in, you had better to hire a
lawyer.”) “We tried everything except beg.”
(Iffy with full infinitive: “We tried everything except to beg.”) “They did nothing but complain.” (Iffy with full infinitive: “They did nothing but to complain.”)
As a rule, of course, the verb
auxiliaries “shall,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “may,” “might,” “can,” “could,”
and “must” should always be followed by a bare infinitive: “I shall scold them.” (Faulty with full
infinitive: “I shall to scold them.”)
“We may go there tonight.” (Faulty
with full infinitive: “We may to go
there tonight.”) “You must find her
at once.” (Faulty with full infinitive: “You must to find her at once.”)
Now, when the operative verb is a perception verb like “see,” “feel,” “hear,” or “watch”
and it’s followed by an object, the object complement should be in the bare
infinitive form for the sentence to work properly: “We watched him perform the
role and we saw him bungle it so badly.” (Faulty with
full infinitive: “We watched him to perform the role and we saw
him to bungle it so badly.”) “I heard
her scream at a fellow justice during a full session.” (Faulty with
full infinitive: “I heard her to scream at a fellow justice
during a full session.”)
A bare infinitive is likewise needed as
object complement when the operative verb is the helping verb “let” or “make”
followed by an object: “Let me call you sweetheart.” (Faulty
with full infinitive: “Let me to call you sweetheart.”) “She
always makes me feel brand new.” (Faulty
with full infinitive: “She always makes me to feel brand new.”)
The
helping verb “help” itself, however, can take either a full infinitive or a
bare infinitive as object complement. The sentence sounds formal with the full
infinitive: “She helped them to mount the coup d’etat.” It’s relaxed,
informal-sounding with the bare infinitive: “She helped them mount the coup d’etat.”
Always remember, though, that all of
these uses of the bare infinitive should be treated as exceptions to the
general rule. When in doubt, use the full infinitive first to see if the
sentence will work properly.
--------------
This
three-part essay originally appeared in the weekly column “English Plain and
Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila Times, January 11, 18, and 25, 2014 © 2014 by the Manila Times Publishing
Corp. All rights reserved.
FURTHER READINGS:
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